made for glory
in crystal and ivory;
god’s gory death in the
creative imagination;
torture transformed into
breathtaking beauty;

 
would he
tear down our totems,
turn over tables,
whip us weeping into
the the night at the sight
of his pain reframed?

 
such foolishness;
whispering, “scandalous,”
we shun him
for blasphemy

inspired by a reflection by the Revd Dr Harold Lewis, interim rector at St Paul’s Episcopal Church, Cleveland Heights, Ohio